A panel of professors from Chicago area universities will discuss the role fighting racism plays in the political left at Harper Memorial Library, 1116 E. 59th St., and how that relationship has changed since the election of Barack Obama.

Michael Dawson of the Univeristy of Chicago, Cedric Johnson of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Mike Goldfield of Wayne State University and Bernadine Dohrn of Northwestern University will investigate how race and inequality may have become separate issues for the left.